A round-trip itinerary from Seattle to Manila. Price was dirt cheap. The itinerary afforded not only the opportunity to gain a significant amount of Premier Qualifying Miles (PQMs) to retain Star Alliance elite status, but also to test out new aviation boundaries and come home replete with tales to share with friends, family and fanbases alike.

I am one of those crazy types: I like doing things for the story. I covet the opportunity to fly on insanely random, weird and novel routes, all the time. This trip could not have combined more chances to do that all in one place.

Therefore, I recruited one of my best friends, and fellow aviation fanatics, anetter username Chicawgo, to come along with me. As many of you know, he and I both live and reside in Chicago, IL.

The tickets were booked in early July for an itinerary departing on October 25, 2012. The outbound journey from Seattle to Manila would be flown on All Nippon Airways (ANA) via Tokyo Narita. Although expedia was displaying a 777-300 as the equipment type from Seattle to Tokyo, we knew that ANA was planning on going live with the 787-800 Dreamliner that very month. High risk, high reward.

The return itinerary also provided us the opportunity to voyage back to the States via Guam and Honolulu; essentially, crossing the vast Pacific Ocean in a non-traditional way, out of no disrespect to the Great Circle mapper, of course. My friend and I would deviate: he would fly MNL-GUM-HNL-SFO, and I opted to take the United ‘Island Hopper’ from Guam to Honolulu, which goes via Truk, Pohnpei, Kosrae, Kwajalein and Majuro before going to Hawaii. He knows his mileage run limitations. I, on the other hand, wanted the thrill.

Imagine the sheer trepidation I felt going on this journey: I was insanely excited and nervous, all at the same time. Call me crazy, but I had a laundry list of things that made me fearful if anything went wrong on this trip, including (but not limited to) the things below:

The Dreamliner: what if it didn’t happen? What if All Nippon failed and we would be stuck on a 777-300ER from Seattle to Narita, 10 abreast!?!

The Island Hopper. Could I honestly survive 48 hours in Y-class, 14 of which would be spent traveling a mere 4,365 miles between Guam and Honolulu involving 5 island stops in the middle of the Pacific Ocean?

I had to fly between Chicago and Seattle. On a separate ticket. How could I possibly book this arrangement while minimizing the possibility of missing the connection to that ANA flight? Even the return trip would be risky: I had a 10 pm arrival in Seattle that depended on 10 flights prior arriving on time before finding a red-eye option back to Chicago.

My itinerary with the return to Seattle was on a “direct” flight which required me to make stoppovers in Los Angeles and San Francisco. I couldn’t ditch out on those without forgoing precious PQMs on the HNL-SEA segment. Would I have the energy for this?

In the end, I decided to use Delta miles to book a roundtrip Chicago to Seattle flight. The ANA flight departed Seattle at 1:15 PM local time, thereby allowing me a limited choice of options to get from ORD to SEA in time to connect.

By the grace of God, I chose to forgo buying a revenue ticket on United, American etc. to Seattle and instead applied the Delta miles to take an 8 AM Alaska Air flight to SEA. The on-time performance of this flight was 96%. I figured that was trustworthy enough. On the return, after landing in SEA around 11 PM local time, I would take a DL red-eye back to Chicago via MSP. The worst.

When I say “grace of God,” I’ll explain why later.

So, this was the final routing outbound and return:

Outbound:ORD-SEA-NRT-MNL

Inbound:MNL-GUM-TKK-PNI-KSA-KWA-MAJ-HNL-LAX-SFO-SEA-MSP-ORD

Nuts, isn’t it? Time travel and everything. Boy, was getting on the phones with res agents prior one confusing process.

My colleague, Chicawgo, opted to take an 8:10 AMUA revenue flight out of Chicago to Seattle that same day on Thursday, October 25. Given that his itinerary had to be open-jaw (ORD-SEA, SFO-ORD) his options were more flexible.

I’ll save the details for the next few installments of the trip reports, but we were about to be in for one crazy week of travel.

Pre departure

Chicawgo and I literally were tracking the ANA 787 launch date on a daily basis. September was an agonizing month ridden with anxiety. Not only that, ANA was a c*cktease about the whole situation, vacillating between a less-than-daily deployment, back to daily, then flip, and such and so forth.

It wasn’t until we were actually able to confirm seats that were operated on the ANA 787-800 that we felt the sigh of relief. Thank goodness for that.

I also was frantically doing as much research as possible to find out anything I could about the UA Island Hopper routes. Much to my chagrin, I discovered that the 737-800 ETOPS a/c used on the Island Hopper, as well as the 757-300s used on the HNL-LAX-SFO-SEA flights, were non-PTV/AVOD equipped planes. Meaning, the best IFE for those segments was through the windows.

Not that I wanted to be a spoiled brat, but I realized I had to take the plunge and use miles to get a confirmed upgrade on those flights. I needed as much comfort as possible. Fortunately, GUM-HNL counts as a domestic operation, as does HNL-SEA, so the miles were worth the expenditure (35K, not bad).

Chicawgo wanted to throttle me insisting that I should wait till just before to see if I could use my Complimentary Premier Upgrade (CPU) but I was not willing to take that risk. Even if the 738 and 753 are just domestic F seats, I needed as much comfort as I could get.

However, while I was confirmed on Honolulu-SEA, I was waitlisted on GUM-HNL. I’d have to wait until I checked in at Manila to find out what was the ultimate decision. So, I bought an iPad and every possible form of entertainment to prepare for the worst.

I have many friends/contacts at UA who would look at the upgrade availability from time to time. Things did not look great for the most part. I decided the best route was to simply not worry and go from there. The decision had been made and I had to live with it.

Departure Date

After 1:15 PM PST on Wednesday, October 24, while checking in, Chicawgo and I were shocked to discover that we had been UPGRADED to All Nippon J class on the flight from NRT to MNL! Although operated on an Air Japan 767, with non lie-flat seats, this was an amazing bonus! We’d get to try out some semblance of a medium-haul business class product on an intra-Asia flight, on an Asian carrier. Things were looking up!

To this day, I’m still unsure as to WHY we were upgraded. I know that ANA does not do complimentary premier upgrades, but perhaps the NRT-MNL flight falls under some sort of UA-NH JV jurisdiction that permitted this to happen? That, or Y was sold out and they bumped up Star elites? Whatever - wasn’t going to ask!

The following morning, I was en-route to ORD and checking every possible tool and resource that was available to insure that my flight to SEA on AS 21 was on-time. Chicawgo simultaneously was rushing and panicky. After reading this, I’ll bet none of you want to ever travel with me nor him. That’s a very valid concern. I’d make a run for it.

For the record, any person traveling out of T3 at ORD on a non-AA carrier should be warned that the TSA lines are terrible. On the verge of sounding like a snob, which I don’t intend to by any means, you have to contend with a lot of people using the far left-side of security which is populated by travelers on Spirit, Alaska, Virgin America, jetBlue and WestJet, among a few others.

What that means is, a large number of leisure-oriented PAX, including families with small children. Hence, lines are SLOWWWWW. This is never a problem I’ve had at the UA screenings at T1, not so much AA screens elsewhere at T3, and definitely not DL/US at T2.

Right before the doors closed on the ORD-SEA flight, Chicawgo texted me to inform me that his UA flight to Seattle had been delayed 30 mins. Not a big issue, I thought, but not comforting, either.

The ride to SEA was uneventful. AS is a charming little airline. I enjoyed a delicious $6 Buy-On-Board snack and chatted with the couple next to me, a Chicagoan pair heading up to Vancouver for holiday. Bless. I read my booked and enjoyed the scenery changes from the Midwest to the Pacific Northwest. My anxiety was too much to allow for sleep. I carried my Rosary and prayed several times that morning.

The bomb is dropped

Instantaneously upon landing in Seattle, I checked the flight info for UA 1105, my buddy’s flight, scheduled to depart Chicago at 8:19 AM, and this is what I saw:

I will never forget that feeling of panic, mixed with disgust, mixed with sadness, upon knowing that my best friend was delayed by four hours and would therefore not be traveling on the Dreamliner at the same time as I, arriving too late and resulting in a misconnect. United Airlines, per standard operating procedure, still exemplifies failure as much as possible.

I cursed myself, “**** you, United! Why do I give you my business when our relationship sometimes feels akin to an unfaithful marriage with an alcoholic billionaire!”

I called him immediately, praying he would not answer his phone. No text from him so far. Maybe he jumped on the 10 AMUA nonstop and was en-route to SEA? Although that would give him a tight connection to the ANA flight, he’d still make it (hopefully).

I did not even bother to hope that the NH 1077 flight from SEA to NRT would be delayed, even by an hour. Sans for the inaugural mishap delay of 24 hours, that flight had gone out on-time every day for 25 days thereafter.

He picked up the phone. My heart sank.

“I’ve come to accept the fact that today, I will not get to fly on the Dreamliner with you,” he said with as much grace as he could muster together.

“Only United,” he said. “Of course, always United.”

[This is a person who is well on his way to getting million-mile status with UA, for the record]

The reality sunk in. His ORD-SEA flight was delayed due to mechanical error. First 30 minutes, which turned into an hour, which became two hours, which finally amounted to four.

He painfully recounted running between various agents at O’Hare, begging for some sort of short-term solution. The bottleneck in the whole situation was that he was booked on separate reservations from ORD to SEA and SEA to NRT/MNL. He was turned away, told nothing could be done. The ANA nonstop from ORD to NRT had already left.

However, he finally managed to beg an agent to get him on the nonstop flight to NRT from ORD. He would meet me in Narita and then we’d proceed to Manila together. He even bought them chocolates and cheesecake out of desperate conciliation. At least that part was secure, but there were some inevitable sacrifices: one, being no-Dreamliner.

Two, UA 747 in Y class used on the nonstop ORD-NRT. (No Y+ was available and No PTV). The daily ANA flight from ORD to NRT had already left. If this were October 2013, he could have jumped on the later ANA flight slated to start in June (yay!)

(Still, thank G we live in Chicago and not Saginaw, MI which is still devoid of a n/s to NRT).

Even more worrisome, the ANA NRT-MNL flight was on ANA ticket stock. Without him boarding at SEA, his NRT-MNL flight, or at least his upgrade, could have been in jeopardy.

How I felt

I can’t really describe how I felt at that moment. I felt like I had just failed an exam. Or lost a game. Upset a friend or a family member. Disappointment could not even begin to describe how awful that moment was for me.

More than anything, I felt guilty. I did not deserve this experience alone. Chicawgo is crazier about airlines and aviation than I am. I knew this would be a huge damper on the trip and he would not be happy.

So what was my near-term solution? I did what I do best: hit the bars.

In the airline industry, networking is everything. I have been so fortunate, through my connections in Chicago and previously working at Southwest, to have friends everywhere to help me out in times of need. I just so happened to have a buddy, also based in CHI, who works for UA and was in SEA at the same time, en-route to NRT to visit his significant other in Tokyo. We both have UA lounge access, so I pinged him and went over to meet him to chow down and drink my sorrows/anxiety away. He was on the UA flight to NRT leaving slightly ahead of mine out of SEA. Apparently, the UASEA-NRT flight is the stairway to heaven for UA employees wanting to non-rev to Tokyo.

I felt calmer as I had someone to vent to, and after a few rounds, he and I went our separate ways for our flights. I must say, the transfer experience at SEA blows. What kind of airport system is designed requiring passengers to take three separate tramways to get from one end to the other?

Restless in Seattle

The Terminal E Pier at SEA has a very international feeling to it. To SEA’s credit, the recent explosion of international services to Asia, the Middle East and Europe is impressive given the size of the Seattle-Tacoma area.

Despite this, the F&B (food and beverage) options suck. I was warned of this by a friend earlier. I was lucky that the UA Club had enough grub to sustain me until the flight, but I was disappointed by what was available.

At the gate area, I observed the ANA 787 in all her beauty. Sadly, this was the one picture I managed to capture. The gate alignment was truly terrible for capturing plane pornography.

Slowly, the area began to fill up. The mix of passengers seemed to break down between foreign expats living in the States, but there were a decent number of Japanese citizens as well. Note the guy on the side practicing martial arts.

I wandered around, taking pictures and such. At Seattle’s best coffee, I had a chat with a Korean Air pilot, originally from Australia, who used to work for Emirates. What a crazy world we live in!

Boarding happened fairly quickly. True to the style used by international airlines (intentionally singling out US-based ones as an exception) the entire boarding environment felt very professional. There were uniformed people stationed to help with passenger flows, handle passengers with Special Service Requests, etc. The foreign carriers know how to do it right!

I boarded the immaculate 787. True to it’s form, the seating configuration on ANA is very premium-heavy (anyone have any guesses as to why this is?) The 2-cabin plane is broken down into 46 seats in C class and 112 seats in Y. While I know little to nothing about the C product on the 787, it indeed looked quite nice.

ANA and JAL are the only two carriers (to my knowledge) that have adopted a 2 x 4 x 2 seating 8-abreast in Y on the 788, whereas others have opted for the 3x3x3 version. Chicawgo and I were initially worried that having a window seat would become challenging once the new a/c was loaded into the schedules, as the drop from the 777-300ER to the 787 represented a huge decline in capacity. However, we were fortunate that the system automatically placed us in window seats 26K and 27K.

Arriving at my seat, I noticed his had been filled by a new Ms. 27K. Moment of silence.

Bin space was HUGE. Plenty of room to store overhead luggage. I took advantage of the boarding time to dart around the cabin and snap as many photos as possible.

Galley

Y Cabin Aft View

Y Cabin Aft View

26K window view (with shade controls)

Mid-galley view (Lavatories were located here)

Cabin views (side)

J Cabin view (aft)

J Cabin lav (notice the window in J! Never had seen this before)

J Cabin Amenities (along with my Tea)

The super-swanky toilet with bidet functionality implemented

J Cabin (front view) - did NOT look very full

My seat: 34 inch pitch

My seat: 34 inch pitch

My seat: 34 inch pitch

I noticed this little car outside the wing. I wonder if it was used to truck in the famous people haha.

We have a visitor! EK arriving from DXB around that hour.

Middle East meets Pacific Northwest. Still so odd.

The one thing you just can’t get over on the 787: the wing!

Soon, we were pushing back, just a few minutes behind schedule, ready to float out of the Seattle region and make our way across the Pacific. This would represent my first transpacific crossing, a new feat for me!

The IFE screen

Taxi

Takeoff roll

Airborne!

I couldn’t believe it: I was actually airborne on the 787! This felt like a dream. I felt so many mixed emotions at that point.

Turbulence climbing out of Seattle was AWFUL. By far, one of the bumpiest plane rides I had ever experienced, and that would continue all the way to Tokyo.

The IFE screen comes with a touch-enabled functionality as well as a remote-controlled equipped handheld device. The seat also comes replete with a USB port (HUGELY helpful) alongside an AC power port, and a separate cup holder for beverages. There was some residue on my tray table. Tsk tsk...

Moving maps are, by far, one of my top-10 lifelong obsessions. Cartography and geography can captivate my attention for hours on end. All Nippon has gone the KLM route here in designing an offering that appeals to the aviation fanatic: providing an amalgam of different flight view options to appeal to the aviation/cartography enthusiast.

Such was our flight route path today:

Also similar to KLM, ANA displays the menu options for today’s flight on the IFE screens. To be served to YCL cabin passengers today was the following:

The calorie counts were interesting.

IFE options were plentiful, but not extensive. Alas, as much as I hate to admit it, I think United/Continental continues to win out the top remarks on the PMCO-configured 777s for offering the widest selection of films and TV shows. ANA provided enough options for one long-haul flight, but it would have been somewhat of a stretch for several of them bundled together (more on that later).

At any rate, there were some older classics, such as Pretty Woman and Dead Poet’s Society as well as recent thrillers and hits. There was probably a 50-50 split between Japanese and Western options.

Soon after a hot towel service, the FA’s came around with the initial drink services. I opted for a double scotch on the rocks (baller) which came paired with some rice cracker snacks. Turbulence continued over the Pacific as we climbed out of Puget sound.

Roughly 30 mins later commenced the main meal service. All Nippon hands out a laminated paper containing pictures of the meals to distribute to the passengers and request that they “point” to the service they’d like. Following this, I went for a de-facto Western meal decision as that was what my stomach wanted at that moment.

A second drink service came paired with the meal, and fortunately in a timely fashion such that passengers weren’t halfway through their dinners before offered a red or white wine (beers and liquors were available on special request). Delta, do take note of this (although it could also be because I was sitting closer to the galley?)

Unfortunately, no Plum wine available in YCL (to my knowledge) but I was able to sample this later on in JCL on the NRT-MNL segment. More on that in the next TR installment...

The “Hungarian Western Style Goulash” was yummy at the time. Not what I would consider healthy, but tasty nevertheless. The side salad came with a tantalizing potato salad, salmon and cole-slaw combination that was delightful.

These were all quite filling, so I saved the bread, cheese and crackers for later. Dessert came after, which was a small half-cup of Haagen Dazs vanilla ice cream. True to its heritage, ANA also offered a VERY wide selection of hot teas, and FAs came around at least hourly with water, tea and coffee rounds for passengers.

Settling In

After the trays had been cleared, the flight settled in for its 5-6 hour slumber period until the next meal service commenced. Truthfully, I’d never thought a flight could be more challenging to accomplish sleep than a Eastbound US-Europe flight, but this one really took the cake.

US-Japan flights leave mid-afternoon, flying straight into daylight. As such, the flight saw sun the entire way through, and we were scheduled to land in Tokyo sometime around midnight Chicago time.

Naturally, this did not afford me a chance to sleep, so I just kind of hung out the entire time. I sadly will admit that the “slide-forward” seat design is not my favorite. I dislike the lack of support at the lower-lumbar level.

I tested out the tinted window situation, which worked fine for the purpose.

Here we were crossing Alaska

Halfway point: I was looking forward to crossing the International Date Line and wanted to document it here.

Roughly three hours remaining in-flight, I started to feel hungry. A visit to the bathroom and I discovered this gem:

So I went to the back and helped myself.

At the galley, I chatted with the FAs, by far a lovely set of crews who were beautiful, friendly and happy to chat.

Finally, one hour before arrival, the “refreshment” was served: a bowl of penne with sauce, scallops and shrimp. In a strange way, this was somewhat of a nice blend of dinner with breakfast, considering that it was almost like a midnight snack for us.

Touchdown in Tokyo...Nightmare in Narita?

The approach to the Japanese coastline was indeed beautiful. This transpacific journey was supposed to mark a milestone for me (as my first crossing of the international date line) and despite the novelty of doing it on the 787, I still had pangs of disappointment and anxiety buried inside me.

For starters, I was anxious about the Narita connection. As is, the connection time was pretty minimal - only 1:35. I didn’t rule out the possibility of needing to re-clear security, and of course, with the bank of flights from all points across the US transiting at the same time, who knows how long the queues would be.

Next, I had to find Chicawgo. I knew that I would probably not find him in the best of moods. Moreover, who knew if phones were functional.

Off first impression, Narita did not appear like an off-site airport. There were so many UA and Delta planes around, I felt like I might as well been at LAX. The 787 experience was over for me, and I had to brace myself for “facing the music,” on top of sleep deprivation, to find my friend and continue the journey to a faraway land with a blindfold on.

{to be continued...}

Part II: The intra-Asia experience on ANA J Class

Part III: The “Island Hopper” experience on United

Overall Impressions

ANA was my first long-haul Asian carrier experience (aside from Air India, but for obvious reasons, they ought to be bundled in a separate category). The experience of flying them on the 787 was icing on the cake. I felt truly lucky to have this opportunity, considering the short time that this aircraft has been in service and the price of the ticket to fly on it. I still have YET to fly on the A380, for the record.

That being said, the product has its high marks and its realistic marks. Let’s move from good to needs improvement:

The Positives

+ Cabin crew: Two thumbs way up. Smiles all around. Courteous, efficient, and eager to be at work. Nothing makes me happier than coming across an airline employee, be it a station manager, purser or corporate, who truly loves being on active duty at their job each day. The ANA crew members on this flight definitely outpaced their legacy partner/peers at Thai.

+ Catering: Fantastic for Y. No complaints whatsoever. Snack and juice provisions in the back galley is an absolute necessity on an 8 hour + flight and is very cost-effective for YCL passengers. Well done, ANA.

+ Punctuality: Perfect. Although, in the rarest of circumstances, a 4-hour delay would have actually been welcomed here, for Chicawgo’s sake.

The Mixed Bag

+/- IFE: The moving map was definitely the winning feature, certainly captured my heart. Film selection was plentiful to last a long-haul journey, but some improvements could be made as far as selection and content goes. In-flight magazine was decent for a bi-lingual carrier.

+/- Seat: the USB port, AC adapter, and legroom were two thumbs way up. The windowshade functionality seemed fine as well, but given that it was a complete day flight, one can’t do justice to giving it a proper rating as to whether it does the job.

The seat itself, however, was not my favorite. I fear that the slide-forward design may be the way of the future (at least among Asian carriers) and while I do not have back issues (yet) I do need as much support as I can get. It says a lot that I probably was rising up every hour or so to stretch my legs on this trip, whereas on my much longer UA 82 flight from EWR to DEL last summer, I only had to rise up twice during the entire trip.

Then again, I was also drinking a lot less on that EWR-DEL flight, so that could also be the reason.

+/- Duty Free: generally good selection, but was disappointed that ANA does not provide more “plane-fanatic” toys and memorabalia. For an airline that touts the “We Fly First” campaign for the 787, ANA could have really earned high marks here for offering a model plane for sale (I would have seriously paid premium for this).

Considering that Japan is located regionally in an area of the world that embraces toys and models, this was surprising.

Requires Improvement

- Extras: ANA did fall short here. Although amenity kits are a rare commodity in YCL these days, it wouldn’t hurt to provide PAX, especially on a J-heavy flight such as this one, a small assortment consisting of eyeshade, earplugs, socks, etc. I mean, Air France even provides this and they aren’t in the best financial condition. Perhaps ANA contends that the “quietness” of the 787 doesn’t necessitate the frills? Or hot towels and extensive tea offerings satisfy this equation?

Nevertheless, I would fly ANA in YCL again long-haul. The 2x4x2 seating configuration on the 787 is a HUGE plus, and the service, provisions and other amenities

Thanks for reading!

IrishAyes

Final Note: special thanks to ANET User Widebodyroga for his personal assistance with helping me jazz up this TR

Thanks for the report. I was actually about to do a similar routing as you at the end of the month. Instead of doing IAH-SEA-NRT-MNL-GUM-HNL-IAH, I'll be doing the IAH-NRT nonstop and then connecting onto NH for NRT-MNL. Look forward to that trip report as well as arrival into MNL's NAIA 3 since that terminal has not been featured before in any report that I remember. Look forward to your next parts!

Colin

The journey of life is not based on the accomplishments, but the experience.

Hey, am I right to see that the seat on ANA 787 Y class belongs to those that is fixed and does not recline? How comfortable is that? I hate the Cathay Y long haul seat. That seat is being designed by someone who don't fly at all!
Hope to get some feedback on this please.

Quoting 9w748capt (Reply 2):Phenomenal TR - kind of hard to believe this was your first tpac! You sure did it in style though. Too bad for your friend!

Thanks man! I appreciate the reading. This was indeed my first TPAC flight. It's too bad that unlike you, I couldn't test out the AA 292/293 flight, which kind of falls in the middle, right? Oh, wait, I can fly AI because they "elbowed out AA and basically drew a knife into their heAArt" just because of that one flight!!!!!

Yeah, too bad for my friend is right. That wasn't the end of the saga. Just wait.

AA can't even compare. Manny probably will wet his pants with glee upon reading this comment from yours truly. But in all seriousness, the ANA catering was unbelievable. KFC actually sounds really good right now.

Thanks for the report. I was actually about to do a similar routing as you at the end of the month. Instead of doing IAH-SEA-NRT-MNL-GUM-HNL-IAH, I'll be doing the IAH-NRT nonstop and then connecting onto NH for NRT-MNL.

Aaw. Hey Colin! The King of TRs to Asia from H-town. Pleasure to hear from you, and truly an honor to get feedback from you! We must be prowling on the same FT threads for MRs.

Smart of you to do the NRT-MNL direct. Unless, unless I'm mistaken, you've flown on GUM-HNL previously?

Quoting aznmadsci (Reply 3):Look forward to that trip report as well as arrival into MNL's NAIA 3 since that terminal has not been featured before in any report that I remember. Look forward to your next parts!

Ooooohhhh yes, that will undoubtedly be featured in the upcoming TRs. Just you wait.

Quoting chicawgo (Reply 4):Yes I spent 12 hours in EconomyMinus. But in all seriousness, Im glad IrishAyes was able to experience the 787. I look forward to parts 2 and 3 where I fared better.

You should write a TR about that flight. You actually were raving about it, especially the hot wrap you received.

Quoting celestar (Reply 5):Hey, am I right to see that the seat on ANA 787 Y class belongs to those that is fixed and does not recline? How comfortable is that? I hate the Cathay Y long haul seat. That seat is being designed by someone who don't fly at all!
Hope to get some feedback on this please.

Yes, it is the same concept, unfortunately. To my limited knowledge, it has not been received with much praise.

Great trip report you have there, thanks for sharing it with us.
Looks like you had a great expercience on the 787
I personally prefer ANA's configuration to all other 787 configs. mainly due to the 8abreast iso 9.

What a great report. It left me hungry for more. Can't wait for the second part!

Quoting IrishAyes (Thread starter):I am one of those crazy types: I like doing things for the story. I covet the opportunity to fly on insanely random, weird and novel routes, all the time. This trip could not have combined more chances to do that all in one place.

I know what you mean very well. I often choose my vacation spots solely on the basis of the airlines/aircrafts that can take me there. I have intentionally turned down direct flights for the sake of trying a 3-segment “back-and-forth” itinerary that would allow me to simply fly over a new country. It’s all about the experience.

Quoting IrishAyes (Thread starter):to take an 8 AM Alaska Air flight to SEA. The on-time performance of this flight was 96%. I figured that was trustworthy enough.

Yeah, AS is an airline you can definitely trust. Good choice. I flew with them between SEA and ORD and they were immaculate.

Holy mother of Troy Aikman! This is an awesome route. I know of some people that have tried the "island hopper" and I would love to give it a go myself.

Quoting IrishAyes (Thread starter):Chicawgo simultaneously was rushing and panicky. After reading this, I’ll bet none of you want to ever travel with me nor him. That’s a very valid concern. I’d make a run for it.

I feel for you guys. I'm kinda the same. I often find myself panicking in similar situations. I’m not a pleasant person to fly with sometimes…

Quoting IrishAyes (Thread starter):The reality sunk in. His ORD-SEA flight was delayed due to mechanical error. First 30 minutes, which turned into an hour, which became two hours, which finally amounted to four.

He painfully recounted running between various agents at O’Hare, begging for some sort of short-term solution. The bottleneck in the whole situation was that he was booked on separate reservations from ORD to SEA and SEA to NRT/MNL. He was turned away, told nothing could be done. The ANA nonstop from ORD to NRT had already left.

Oh man, that sucks. How unfortunate! What were the odds that there would be THAT long of a delay on that particular day. Hopefully Chicawgo can get another chance to try to 787 sometime soon.

Quoting IrishAyes (Thread starter):ANA provided enough options for one long-haul flight, but it would have been somewhat of a stretch for several of them bundled together (more on that later).

That’s how I felt too when I flew with them TPAC this last March (LAX-NRT-LAX). The same (relatively limited) programs were available in both directions. I ran out of options less than 1/3rd of the way during the return trip.

I was obsessed with those crackers. I think I must have gone to the galley 4 or 5 times to get extras.

Quoting IrishAyes (Thread starter):For starters, I was anxious about the Narita connection. As is, the connection time was pretty minimal - only 1:35.

I had a similar connection at NRT and I was kinda anxious whether I was gonna make it or not. However the Japanese are so efficient that not only did I make my connection but I had a ton of time to get bored waiting for my next flight.

Quoting IrishAyes (Thread starter):Although amenity kits are a rare commodity in YCL these days, it wouldn’t hurt to provide PAX, especially on a J-heavy flight such as this one, a small assortment consisting of eyeshade, earplugs, socks, etc. I mean, Air France even provides this and they aren’t in the best financial condition.

Good point. I hadn’t thought about that. We got nothing on our ANA flights either. In recent years only BA and TK have provided me with amenity kits…

Quoting IrishAyes (Thread starter):Final Note: special thanks to ANET User Widebodyroga for his personal assistance with helping me jazz up this TR

Another great report you made here, well done! ANAs 787 YCL product looks quite nice, with 2-4-2 as a nice plus! The food looks good and the FAs sound great, well done!
Such a shame your friend didn't make it with you, that must've felt very bad!

Quoting IrishAyes (Thread starter):Although expedia was displaying a 777-300 as the equipment type from Seattle to Tokyo, we knew that ANA was planning on going live with the 787-800 Dreamliner that very month. High risk, high reward.

Although flying the 777-300 is also quite nice!

Quoting IrishAyes (Thread starter):After 1:15 PM PST on Wednesday, October 24, while checking in, Chicawgo and I were shocked to discover that we had been UPGRADED to All Nippon J class on the flight from NRT to MNL!

Always nice to get an upgrade like that!

Quoting IrishAyes (Thread starter):Naturally, this did not afford me a chance to sleep, so I just kind of hung out the entire time. I sadly will admit that the “slide-forward” seat design is not my favorite. I dislike the lack of support at the lower-lumbar level.

Quoting IrishAyes (Reply 7):Aaw. Hey Colin! The King of TRs to Asia from H-town. Pleasure to hear from you, and truly an honor to get feedback from you! We must be prowling on the same FT threads for MRs.

Smart of you to do the NRT-MNL direct. Unless, unless I'm mistaken, you've flown on GUM-HNL previously?

Hahaha!!! Thanks! I've done a number of ways to visit relatives in MNL and so far my favorite has been SQ via IAH and DME. They have spoiled me. I am looking forward to NH and getting a preview of it with your trip report. I've done Japan-MNL many times back in the NW days, but not when they merged with DL. I should finish my SQ trip report along with a snapshot of the other trips I did in 2012.

Look forward to Part 2!

Colin

The journey of life is not based on the accomplishments, but the experience.

Quoting IrishAyes (Thread starter):Not that I wanted to be a spoiled brat, but I realized I had to take the plunge and use miles to get a confirmed upgrade on those flights. I needed as much comfort as possible.

Fair enough. When I finally get round to doing this, I want to be sat at the front!

Quoting IrishAyes (Thread starter):I will never forget that feeling of panic, mixed with disgust, mixed with sadness, upon knowing that my best friend was delayed by four hours and would therefore not be traveling on the Dreamliner at the same time as I, arriving too late and resulting in a misconnect

Ah, how frustrating for the pair of you. Some things just aren't meant to be.

Quoting IrishAyes (Thread starter):US-Japan flights leave mid-afternoon, flying straight into daylight. As such, the flight saw sun the entire way through, and we were scheduled to land in Tokyo sometime around midnight Chicago time.
Naturally, this did not afford me a chance to sleep, so I just kind of hung out the entire time. I sadly will admit that the “slide-forward” seat design is not my favorite. I dislike the lack of support at the lower-lumbar level.

I love long daytime westbound flights. Whenever I fly back from Asia, I do my utmost to get a daytime flight, rather than something leaving around midnight, arriving at the crack of dawn the next morning. The daytime flights let you enjoy the flight more, and make dealing with jetlag much easier (1 very long day, then normality, rather than a long day, long night, then a very long day)

Absolutely loved your report and looking forward to the other sectors. Nice to see more 787 reports flooding a.net. And especially nice that it was on ANA, and of course you could not have found better cabin crews as the Japenese by nature are the most polite of all of their Asian counterparts, so it is nice to see the Japanese tradition shine brightest on their own carriers!!

Quoting IrishAyes (Thread starter):The return itinerary also provided us the opportunity to voyage back to the States via Guam and Honolulu; essentially, crossing the vast Pacific Ocean in a non-traditional way, out of no disrespect to the Great Circle mapper, of course. My friend and I would deviate: he would fly MNL-GUM-HNL-SFO, and I opted to take the United ‘Island Hopper’ from Guam to Honolulu, which goes via Truk, Pohnpei, Kosrae, Kwajalein and Majuro before going to Hawaii.

Quoting IrishAyes (Thread starter):I can’t really describe how I felt at that moment. I felt like I had just failed an exam. Or lost a game. Upset a friend or a family member. Disappointment could not even begin to describe how awful that moment was for me.

More than anything, I felt guilty. I did not deserve this experience alone. Chicawgo is crazier about airlines and aviation than I am. I knew this would be a huge damper on the trip and he would not be happy.

Ah I can feel your pain. Nothing like planning a special trip only to be seperated....The feeling is like a newly married couple seperated on the first night of the honeymoon...I would have cried too!!!

Quoting IrishAyes (Thread starter):ANA and JAL are the only two carriers (to my knowledge) that have adopted a 2 x 4 x 2 seating 8-abreast in Y on the 788, whereas others have opted for the 3x3x3 version.

I do think the 2x4x2 is a better option as those in the middle and the window are just one seat away from the aisle. It's such a bother when having to visit the loo on the mighty T7s with the 3x4x3 configuration while seated in the window.

Quoting IrishAyes (Thread starter):Chicawgo and I were initially worried that having a window seat would become challenging once the new a/c was loaded into the schedules, as the drop from the 777-300ER to the 787 represented a huge decline in capacity. However, we were fortunate that the system automatically placed us in window seats 26K and 27K.

Hey at least like my first Trans-Pacific crossing on the SQ 744 LAX-NRT-SIN I had the sun which was nice, but try doing the QFLAX-SYD where you don't see the sun for almost 13 hours....that is one long night and not that it makes sleeping any better (well I can barely sleep on planes anyway)

So then the FA's did not permanently tint the windows to the darkest option it being an endless daytime flight?

Quoting IrishAyes (Thread starter):At the galley, I chatted with the FAs, by far a lovely set of crews who were beautiful, friendly and happy to chat.

But too shy for a photo perhaps!!

Quoting IrishAyes (Thread starter):The approach to the Japanese coastline was indeed beautiful. This transpacific journey was supposed to mark a milestone for me (as my first crossing of the international date line) and despite the novelty of doing it on the 787, I still had pangs of disappointment and anxiety buried inside me.

For starters, I was anxious about the Narita connection. As is, the connection time was pretty minimal - only 1:35. I didn’t rule out the possibility of needing to re-clear security, and of course, with the bank of flights from all points across the US transiting at the same time, who knows how long the queues would be.

Next, I had to find Chicawgo. I knew that I would probably not find him in the best of moods. Moreover, who knew if phones were functional.

Quoting IrishAyes (Thread starter):For the record, any person traveling out of T3 at ORD on a non-AA carrier should be warned that the TSA lines are terrible. On the verge of sounding like a snob, which I don’t intend to by any means, you have to contend with a lot of people using the far left-side of security which is populated by travelers on Spirit, Alaska, Virgin America, jetBlue and WestJet, among a few others.

What that means is, a large number of leisure-oriented PAX, including families with small children. Hence, lines are SLOWWWWW. This is never a problem I’ve had at the UA screenings at T1, not so much AA screens elsewhere at T3, and definitely not DL/US at T2.

= Haha. Some of the WORST TSA experience I have had has been on UA at ORD, ESPECIALLY in the 1K queue.

Nice report. Lots of drama and saga benefitting everything I have heard if you from a certain mutual friend . I am glad you got to fly the 788. I like NH much more than you do I guess ... or maybe, my expectations of YCL travel has fallen significantly.

Hey there...great TR. Wonderful pictures. I agree the 787 wing is incredible. I got to fly UA 787 from DEN-IAH in JCL over the holidays and it was amazing! Sorry to hear about all of the drama. I cannot wait to read about the other adventures. Cheers, Will

This was a brilliant report and enjoyable read. One of the craziest itineraries I've ever seen.

Not sure when I'll get to go on the 787 (took 5 years for me to get on the A380) but hopefully it's sometime soon. The ANA product looked pretty good and the meals looked quite acceptable for Y. The first picture in your report looked like it was out of FSX- I guess that's just how futuristic the wing is.

Very much looking forward to the continuation of your report...especially the return island hopping Pacific crossing.

Quoting IrishAyes (Thread starter):After 1:15 PM PST on Wednesday, October 24, while checking in, Chicawgo and I were shocked to discover that we had been UPGRADED to All Nippon J class on the flight from NRT to MNL! Although operated on an Air Japan 767, with non lie-flat seats, this was an amazing bonus!

- Whilst not a proper flat bed experience, a nice plus!

Quoting IrishAyes (Thread starter):The reality sunk in. His ORD-SEA flight was delayed due to mechanical error. First 30 minutes, which turned into an hour, which became two hours, which finally amounted to four.

He painfully recounted running between various agents at O’Hare, begging for some sort of short-term solution. The bottleneck in the whole situation was that he was booked on separate reservations from ORD to SEA and SEA to NRT/MNL. He was turned away, told nothing could be done.

- This is the problem with having flight on different tickets, gremlins can get in and bugger up the best plans!

Quoting IrishAyes (Thread starter): I went for a de-facto Western meal decision as that was what my stomach wanted at that moment.

- I find the ANA catering to be high quality, however the lack of options could leave you stuck of you don't like the Japanese or western options, just 2 options on a long flight is limiting.

Quoting IrishAyes (Thread starter):I sadly will admit that the “slide-forward” seat design is not my favorite. I dislike the lack of support at the lower-lumbar level.

- Many others are with you but I found the ANA 787 Y seats to be pretty good, I had a good 7 hours sleep on my recent HND-FRA flight.

Quoting IrishAyes (Thread starter):I would fly ANA in YCL again long-haul. The 2x4x2 seating configuration on the 787 is a HUGE plus

Looks like ANA provides a great product on the 787, save for the slide-forward seats (I'm not a fan of those either). It makes all the difference in the world to have a positive, proactive crew as well, so I'm glad that worked out for you.

Chicawgo, I'm so sorry that this portion of the trip didn't work out for you. Personally, UA has disappointed me on so many occasions under so many different circumstances that I've told myself that I will never fly them whenever something's on the line (a connection, a business meeting, an important event etc.) They're just too unreliable.

Great trip report you have there, thanks for sharing it with us.
Looks like you had a great expercience on the 787
I personally prefer ANA's configuration to all other 787 configs. mainly due to the 8abreast iso 9.

Greetings

Marc

Thanks, and yes, the 8-abreast configuration will definitely spoil me.

Quoting Widebodyroga (Reply 12):What a great report. It left me hungry for more. Can't wait for the second part!

Thanks! And just wait, the roller coaster continued.

Quoting Widebodyroga (Reply 12):I know what you mean very well. I often choose my vacation spots solely on the basis of the airlines/aircrafts that can take me there. I have intentionally turned down direct flights for the sake of trying a 3-segment “back-and-forth” itinerary that would allow me to simply fly over a new country. It’s all about the experience.

Most definitely. It makes it more fun that way.

Quoting Widebodyroga (Reply 12):Yeah, AS is an airline you can definitely trust. Good choice. I flew with them between SEA and ORD and they were immaculate.

They were so great. I probably won't fly with them much, but they made an excellent impression.

Quoting Widebodyroga (Reply 12):Holy mother of Troy Aikman! This is an awesome route. I know of some people that have tried the "island hopper" and I would love to give it a go myself.

It's a religious experience.

Quoting Widebodyroga (Reply 12):I feel for you guys. I'm kinda the same. I often find myself panicking in similar situations. I’m not a pleasant person to fly with sometimes…

I don't think anyone who is an aviation fan is.

Quoting Widebodyroga (Reply 12):Oh man, that sucks. How unfortunate! What were the odds that there would be THAT long of a delay on that particular day. Hopefully Chicawgo can get another chance to try to 787 sometime soon.

It was a blow to Chicawgo. I still would be angry at the Universe if I were him. Then again, he will probably fly the UA 787 sometime this year.

Quoting Widebodyroga (Reply 12):That’s how I felt too when I flew with them TPAC this last March (LAX-NRT-LAX). The same (relatively limited) programs were available in both directions. I ran out of options less than 1/3rd of the way during the return trip.

Ya. It was even worse though on the intra-Asian legs. More on that later.

Quoting Widebodyroga (Reply 12):I had a similar connection at NRT and I was kinda anxious whether I was gonna make it or not. However the Japanese are so efficient that not only did I make my connection but I had a ton of time to get bored waiting for my next flight.

Thanks man! I'm feeling exhausted after my travels this past week; ORD-EGE, DEN-CLT-MIA, FLL-IAD-ORD so I may have to bench it for awhile

Quoting adamspotter (Reply 14):Another great report you made here, well done! ANAs 787 YCL product looks quite nice, with 2-4-2 as a nice plus! The food looks good and the FAs sound great, well done!
Such a shame your friend didn't make it with you, that must've felt very bad!

Quoting gabrielchew (Reply 17):Fair enough. When I finally get round to doing this, I want to be sat at the front!

Maybe I'll go with you this time.

Quoting gabrielchew (Reply 17):I love long daytime westbound flights. Whenever I fly back from Asia, I do my utmost to get a daytime flight, rather than something leaving around midnight, arriving at the crack of dawn the next morning. The daytime flights let you enjoy the flight more, and make dealing with jetlag much easier (1 very long day, then normality, rather than a long day, long night, then a very long day)

You are set in your ways. To each his own

Quoting airdfw (Reply 18):Nice report, Hopefully I can taste 787 on JLNRT-SIN in May 2013.

What is "Hot Yoga"?

You should.

I'm certified by NETA (National Exercise and Trainers Association) to teach Yoga in a heated environment (94 degrees F with 30% humidity) in a sequence that incorporates weights, plyometrics, core and cardio into yoga postures. It's a great workout. PM me if you have more questions about it.

Quoting flightsimboy (Reply 20):Absolutely loved your report and looking forward to the other sectors. Nice to see more 787 reports flooding a.net. And especially nice that it was on ANA, and of course you could not have found better cabin crews as the Japenese by nature are the most polite of all of their Asian counterparts, so it is nice to see the Japanese tradition shine brightest on their own carriers!!

Ahh, thank you my friend from the North! Yes, the 787 still has the wow-effect, such to the point that there still having issues

Quoting flightsimboy (Reply 20):What a way to lose your Trans-Pacific virginity and that on the ANA 787!! Well you also lost your viginity on the 787 too...Double whammy!! Nice!!

I'm seriously considering myself lucky now given all the delays and disasters and mishaps that appear to be happening even though the plane has been in service for a decent amount of time. It was truly memorable.

Quoting abrelosojos (Reply 21):Nice report. Lots of drama and saga benefitting everything I have heard if you from a certain mutual friend . I am glad you got to fly the 788. I like NH much more than you do I guess ... or maybe, my expectations of YCL travel has fallen significantly.

HAHAHA well that certain person I'm sure has filled you in on everything about me and how I operate. He has been a bad friend lately and owes me a long phone chat.

I like NH a lot - did it appear from the TR that I wasn't happy? Apologies if I sent mixed signals.

It was. Thank you. You would have loved the desserts and I suggest reading the next installments as you will be happy to see what was offered.

Quoting globalflyer (Reply 23):Hey there...great TR. Wonderful pictures. I agree the 787 wing is incredible. I got to fly UA 787 from DEN-IAH in JCL over the holidays and it was amazing! Sorry to hear about all of the drama. I cannot wait to read about the other adventures. Cheers, Will

Many thanks. The 787 wing is unreal. The drama was drama per usual, but its standard operating procedure (no pun intended) with United.

Excellent TR, really thrilled to keep it reading about your adventures over the Pacific.

Quoting rogerbcn (Reply 25):That's a true A.netter routing, my last BCN-PMI-BCN is a baby route Flying all those sectors non-stop is quite a challenge, not only for the flights themselves but for your health as well.

I have never flown such a complex itinerary but it looks pretty scary, especially having different tickets involved, one mess up and then you are f****d or you have a great credit card.

ANA seems to have done a great job in their Dreamliner interior, it looks very comfortable and well equipped for those flights.

Hola Roger! Como te va?

Thanks for the feedback. I will read your TR to PMI. Yes, it is a risk that I should be more careful of opting for in the future.

Quoting rogerbcn (Reply 25):I have never crossed the timeline myself but I was equally excited when crossing the Equator on my trips to EZE.

Food options and presentation looks really nice, no complaints here.

I am really looking forward to reading the next installments.

Milestones are milestones and it is always exciting to try out new things like crossing the dateline, equator, etc.

This was a brilliant report and enjoyable read. One of the craziest itineraries I've ever seen.

Quoting themit9 (Reply 26):Not sure when I'll get to go on the 787 (took 5 years for me to get on the A380) but hopefully it's sometime soon. The ANA product looked pretty good and the meals looked quite acceptable for Y. The first picture in your report looked like it was out of FSX- I guess that's just how futuristic the wing is.

Very much looking forward to the continuation of your report...especially the return island hopping Pacific crossing.

Aaw. Thanks man! It was nuts.

Hey, at least you have flown on the A380. I have yet to do so. Really all about seizing the moment at the time (ironic I'm using Carpe Diem after channeling that I watched Dead Poets Society on this flight).

The first picture was mine, haha, except doctored a bit. Sadly, I gave up on FSX. I need to give it another shot.

No, it was indeed an outdated product, but the service otherwise was incredible.

Quoting ba319-131 (Reply 27):- This is the problem with having flight on different tickets, gremlins can get in and bugger up the best plans!

Absolutely. In the airline industry, everything gets f***ed up very easily even on simple itineraries. This was greedy of me.

Quoting ba319-131 (Reply 27): I find the ANA catering to be high quality, however the lack of options could leave you stuck of you don't like the Japanese or western options, just 2 options on a long flight is limiting.

Right. But, then again, beggars cannot be choosers. I mean, their counterparts are serving KFC on board!

Quoting ba319-131 (Reply 27):- Many others are with you but I found the ANA 787 Y seats to be pretty good, I had a good 7 hours sleep on my recent HND-FRA flight.

I read that TR and it made me so excited for this flight. Thanks for all that you do on the TR forums.

Looks like ANA provides a great product on the 787, save for the slide-forward seats (I'm not a fan of those either). It makes all the difference in the world to have a positive, proactive crew as well, so I'm glad that worked out for you.

Thanks, AA! Appreciate the commentary. I flew AA First last week and it was phenomenal. UA domestic first is such crap in comparison.

The slide forward seats do indeed suck.

Quoting AA94 (Reply 28):Chicawgo, I'm so sorry that this portion of the trip didn't work out for you. Personally, UA has disappointed me on so many occasions under so many different circumstances that I've told myself that I will never fly them whenever something's on the line (a connection, a business meeting, an important event etc.) They're just too unreliable.

Looking forward to parts 2 + 3, especially the island hopper service!

Chicawgo is thinking about switching to Delta or American. I don't think he will go through with it.

Great trip report! And great pictures ofcourse!
Thumbs down to united. Sorry your friend missed the 787 experience..
I thought united was doing well on its flight.. Cause I have a decent experience with them.
ANA product even on Y looks so good. I love the huge windows and generous food portions.
Narita truly does look like an american airport because of the huge presence of american carrier there.
Hopefully I can sample a 787 soon. Be it Air india or ANA or united or any other carrier.
All of them are grounded right now but hopefully they ll be flying high soon.

Brilliant report, of a particularly high calibre as ever, and especially 'jazzed up'.

A shame your aviation rendezvous failed because of a connector. But, it seems like you made good use of the solo time to explore and enjoy the 787.

The photos were all really good. I think the meal looks brilliant, really tasteful and well presented. And I applaud, of course, the Scotch on the rocks... that looks like a decent measure too. Which did they serve? JW?

I am also warming to on-screen menu, if it means they can reduce a ticket price by $00.10. ha

Hey Pradat! How goes it? Spring semester treating you well down in GA? Great Lufthansa TRs btw. Hope to see one on your return trip to DEL, whenever it is or on whichever carrier you choose to fly back on.

Thumbs down to United is right. Yesterday, surprise surprise, they cancelled my flight from Portland to San Francisco, despite perfect weather conditions. Chicawgo was with me. Maybe he's bad luck. I got rebooked on Alaska this time (never thought I'd fly them twice within three months!) and they were brilliant. I should consider switching. They need to set up a hub in Chicago and kick UA out.

Quoting planiac787 (Reply 32):I thought united was doing well on its flight.. Cause I have a decent experience with them.

Supposedly, they are. My "sources" who work for UA tell me that the entrenched SEA-NRT flight isn't going anywhere.

Quoting planiac787 (Reply 32):ANA product even on Y looks so good. I love the huge windows and generous food portions.

It was yummy. Stay tuned, there is more on NH's food, intra-Asia! It only gets better

Quoting planiac787 (Reply 32):Narita truly does look like an american airport because of the huge presence of american carrier there.

Seriously! Wait till I talk about the ANA lounge. I honestly felt like I was in Charlotte airport or Atlanta or Dallas/Ft. Worth. Legitimately all Westerners.

Quoting planiac787 (Reply 32):Hopefully I can sample a 787 soon. Be it Air india or ANA or united or any other carrier.

I know It is so sad to believe my poor little JA808A is in a hangar somewhere, not in the air like she should be. I'm very depressed. But, it's nobody's fault but Boeings. This mess is worse than the A380 situation with Airbus.

Quoting planiac787 (Reply 32):All of them are grounded right now but hopefully they ll be flying high soon.

Your chances will come soon. I still have not flown on the A380 yet, and it's been out for over 5 years. My guess is that since it came out when I was in college, when there was all the hoo-haa, I did not have a chance to go on it because my schedule was restricted. You are in that same boat. But, your time will come.

Quoting lukeyboy95 (Reply 33):Brilliant report, of a particularly high calibre as ever, and especially 'jazzed up'.

Thanks mate, means a lot coming from your end, who set the standards.

Quoting lukeyboy95 (Reply 33):The photos were all really good. I think the meal looks brilliant, really tasteful and well presented. And I applaud, of course, the Scotch on the rocks... that looks like a decent measure too. Which did they serve? JW?

Meal was great, the Scotch was a continuation of my lounge libations. I do believe they serve Chivas Regal, aged 12 years, which is just fine for YCL. According to the menu, no Voka nor gin was avail on flights to MNL. Huh.

Quoting lukeyboy95 (Reply 33):I am also warming to on-screen menu, if it means they can reduce a ticket price by $00.10. ha

Right!? ANA probably was the most transparent about meal service as one can get. Info clearly available on their website (pre-departure) on the screens (during flight) on menus printed in the seat backs, and on the pictures displayed while serving. The food matched the picture and descriptions vis-a-vis. Incredible!

For those interested, one of my good friends and former colleagues finally presented me with my belated "christmas gift" this past weekend, which has, since publishing this report, satisfied the following dilemma:

Quoting IrishAyes (Thread starter):For an airline that touts the “We Fly First” campaign for the 787, ANA could have really earned high marks here for offering a model plane for sale (I would have seriously paid premium for this).

All the more reason to have ANA as your employer, since they clearly treat even their former employees well by bestowing gifts upon them (as they did here with the friend-of-a-friend who had this toy set).

Quoting IrishAyes (Reply 35):Right!? ANA probably was the most transparent about meal service as one can get. Info clearly available on their website (pre-departure) on the screens (during flight) on menus printed in the seat backs, and on the pictures displayed while serving. The food matched the picture and descriptions vis-a-vis. Incredible!

Well... that's the thing. It doesn't have to be a knock off. Wait till you see the menu display on my latest MH flight. It was a total joke, and came in for 5 seconds over the film I was watching... probably missed a key plot in that film! But yeah, looked like a seriously nice flight!

Quoting IrishAyes (Reply 35):Thanks mate, means a lot coming from your end, who set the standards.

Well. I am retired! Actually, no, i am doing the research for the next report!

Quoting lukeyboy95 (Reply 37):Well... that's the thing. It doesn't have to be a knock off. Wait till you see the menu display on my latest MH flight. It was a total joke, and came in for 5 seconds over the film I was watching... probably missed a key plot in that film! But yeah, looked like a seriously nice flight!

Yeah, i've seen pics of MH meals and they look kinda nasty. Even your SV meal pics looked more appetizing.

Quoting lukeyboy95 (Reply 37):Well. I am retired! Actually, no, i am doing the research for the next report!

p.s. good friends to get you these sorts of kind gifts!

Can't wait to read! and yes, I am very lucky. I've actually gotten a bunch of my non-aviation friends into the scene!

Wowowow! Man, awesome report! It is not that I am just reading it now, I just read it over and over several times and waited until now to post comments. Thanks a lot for the incredible pics, for remembering all the details and for sharing. I think you are one of the best trip reporters on a.net, and cannot get enough of this and your other reports.

I think what you did was insane, but at the same time truly incredible. Few people would embark on such a trip, especially with the milkrun across the Pacific. Congrats man! Btw, not only have you left me wanting to do a crazy run like this one, but you also made me feel like I was at the airport and on board the 787 too!

Quoting IrishAyes (Thread starter):What if All Nippon failed and we would be stuck on a 777-300ER from Seattle to Narita, 10 abreast!?!

So NH also succumbed to the 10-abreast trend? I thought some of NH's 77Ws were 2-4-3 and some were 3-3-3 in coach. Ugh. It is silly to state the obvious, but clearly bean counters come first these days.

LOL. So how many fanbases do you think you may have (apart from the MEX-based one)?

Quoting IrishAyes (Thread starter):Although expedia was displaying a 777-300 as the equipment type from Seattle to Tokyo, we knew that ANA was planning on going live with the 787-800 Dreamliner that very month. High risk, high reward.

Indeed high risk. I assume you were not willing to wait longer and see if the 788 was confirmed so as to not lose the attractive fare, right? I am unable to start explaining how jealous I am that you have already flown the Dreamliner!

Quoting IrishAyes (Thread starter):After reading this, I%u2019ll bet none of you want to ever travel with me nor him. That%u2019s a very valid concern. I%u2019d make a run for it.

Actually, I think I would be very interested the next time you come up with a crazy routing designed to fly a specific type of aircraft and to earn lots of miles.

Quoting IrishAyes (Thread starter):United Airlines, per standard operating procedure, still exemplifies failure as much as possible.

Lol. Harsh words for your city's biggest carrier. Hope some of the CO ethos and feel can be rescued and that UA will improve. Of all legacies, DL seems to be the lesser of all evils these days when it comes to delivering what people expect, and AA seems to have found its groove and is aiming to be the best legacy carrier out there. Challenging.

Quoting IrishAyes (Reply 1): True to its form, the seating configuration on ANA is very premium-heavy (anyone have any guesses as to why this is?) The 2-cabin plane is broken down into 46 seats in C class and 112 seats in Y. While I know little to nothing about the C product on the 787, it indeed looked quite nice.

That's good on several levels. For the Y-flier, it means a smaller number of fellow Y-travelers and thanks to the 2-4-2 setting, a more comfortable cabin. For the frequent fliers, it means perhaps better upgrade opportunities (either thanks to their elite status or if they want to redeem miles).

Quoting IrishAyes (Thread starter):I knew this would be a huge damper on the trip and he would not be happy.
So what was my near-term solution? I did what I do best: hit the bars.

It never ceases to amaze me when an airline offers such generous legroom. Few still have that on regular economy, and the few that do may be moving away from that generous set up soon... like AM who is going from 34 inch pitch and 3-3-3 config in Y in the 777s, to 3-3-3 config and 31 to 33 inches of pitch in Y in the upcoming 788s.

Quoting EddieDude (Reply 40):I think you are one of the best trip reporters on a.net, and cannot get enough of this and your other reports.

Thanks much man! I'm curious to know how my insane virtual personality matches to your expectations of me when we finally meet in person in a few weeks jajajajaj.

Quoting EddieDude (Reply 40):I think what you did was insane, but at the same time truly incredible. Few people would embark on such a trip, especially with the milkrun across the Pacific. Congrats man! Btw, not only have you left me wanting to do a crazy run like this one, but you also made me feel like I was at the airport and on board the 787 too!

I am crazy. There's not much more to it, I guess.

Quoting EddieDude (Reply 40):So NH also succumbed to the 10-abreast trend? I thought some of NH's 77Ws were 2-4-3 and some were 3-3-3 in coach. Ugh. It is silly to state the obvious, but clearly bean counters come first these days.

They have different configurations for domestic vs. int'l, I believe? And you're right, they probably have good bean counters who felt this was the correct way to go.

Quoting EddieDude (Reply 40):LOL. So how many fanbases do you think you may have (apart from the MEX-based one)?

Oh, come off it. You have far more fans than I do! But, thanks for holding down MEX!

Quoting EddieDude (Reply 40):Indeed high risk. I assume you were not willing to wait longer and see if the 788 was confirmed so as to not lose the attractive fare, right? I am unable to start explaining how jealous I am that you have already flown the Dreamliner!

I never realized then that it would have become a rare commodity, although it looks like signs are indicating changes are on the way and the frames will come back within a few weeks.

Quoting EddieDude (Reply 40):AA seems to have found its groove and is aiming to be the best legacy carrier out there. Challenging.

It has. I flew Virgin America in First last week. Definition of unreal. TR on the way (as soon as I can sort through the backlog) I have been insanely busy.

Quoting EddieDude (Reply 40):That's good on several levels. For the Y-flier, it means a smaller number of fellow Y-travelers and thanks to the 2-4-2 setting, a more comfortable cabin. For the frequent fliers, it means perhaps better upgrade opportunities (either thanks to their elite status or if they want to redeem miles).